May 12, 2026
Spice, sand, and comment wars
UnDUNE II
A retro desert war remake drops, and the comments are pure nostalgia chaos
TLDR: UnDUNE II remakes a beloved old desert war game in a tiny retro format after nearly three years of work. Fans are thrilled but hilariously picky, arguing over missing voice lines, unforgettable music, and even building placement bugs while newcomers ask what a “demake” even is.
A tiny game with huge old-school feelings has landed on itch.io, and honestly, the comment section is acting like it just found a time capsule buried in the sand. UnDUNE II is creator Paul Nicholas’s nearly three-year labor of love, rebuilding the classic 1992 desert strategy game Dune II inside the bite-sized fantasy console PICO-8. It packs in all three houses, sandworms, music, missions, and enough spice-mining drama to make retro fans instantly emotional.
And emotional they are. The strongest vibe in the comments is pure nostalgia with nitpicking rights attached. One player cheered that this version finally kills the old annoyance of having to click “Move” every single time, basically saying: thank the spice, modern comfort wins. But then came the memory wars: where are the iconic little unit voice barks like “reporting” and “acknowledged”? Repetitive, yes — but also, according to fans, part of the soul.
Then there’s the gloriously nerdy side quest where one commenter casually drops a program for playing the original soundtrack, because apparently the music is so unforgettable it has permanently branded itself onto people’s brains. Another comment delivers the kind of grumpy bug report only retro diehards can produce: a refinery somehow overlapping a wind trap. Meanwhile, a confused newcomer simply asks, “what is a demake?” — a perfect reminder that while veterans are debating concrete slabs and sound effects, some readers are just trying to figure out what universe they’ve walked into. In short: beloved tribute, tiny chaos, maximum comment-section flavor.
Key Points
- •*UnDUNE II* is a completed demake of the original RTS *DUNE II*, recreated from scratch in PICO-8 by Paul Nicholas (Liquidream).
- •The project took nearly three years of part-time work, despite initially being expected to finish in one or two months.
- •The game includes three main factions plus Sardaukar, nine mission levels, 19 building types, 21 unit types, remade music and sound effects, and multiple AI opponents.
- •Core gameplay focuses on base building, power management, spice harvesting, credit generation, exploration, and combat against rival factions and sandworms.
- •The page provides practical gameplay tips, including using concrete slabs, maintaining power for radar, protecting the Construction Yard, and understanding faction-specific units.